*Squee* Sabrina Jeffries is on the blog yall! How neat is that? One of my friends introduced me to her books earlier this year and I fell head over heels for them. Only to find out she's a local to me NC author! Even better! Her newest release, 'Twas the Night After Christsmas, was phenomenal.
Yall please help me give Sabrina a warm welcome. She's got a great guest post today about...Christmas trees :) You can even check out some of hers! There's an awesome giveaway way down at the bottom too!
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Pierce Waverly, the Earl of Devonmont, has been estranged from his mother for most of his life. When his mother’s new companion, Mrs. Camilla Stuart, writes to tell him that his mother is seriously ill, he goes home.
But when he learns that the lovely widow tricked him in order to effect a holiday reconciliation, he refuses to stay—unless she meets his “terms.” Somewhere between trying to seduce the beautiful Camilla and struggling with the cruel memories of his childhood Christmases, Pierce discovers that not only does forgiveness go two ways, but that love can blossom even in the coldest of winters.
But when he learns that the lovely widow tricked him in order to effect a holiday reconciliation, he refuses to stay—unless she meets his “terms.” Somewhere between trying to seduce the beautiful Camilla and struggling with the cruel memories of his childhood Christmases, Pierce discovers that not only does forgiveness go two ways, but that love can blossom even in the coldest of winters.
I really like Christmas trees. I have six—the large traditional tree in our living room, two 2 ft. trees, a 1 ft. tree, and an 8-inch tree, but the big deal is my 6 ft. white feather tree decorated with fashion ornaments and garlanded with feather boas. One of the others is done all in country-style ornaments. I guess you would call those “theme trees.”
The theme trees are upstairs in my office area, because, well, I like them and because hubby’s not keen on theme trees. He likes the eclectic look–bunches of ornaments collected through the years that have sentimental significance. I like that, too. But this way I get to have the best of both worlds.
So when I wanted to write a Christmas book, I had to include some tree, whether theme or otherwise. But here’s the strange thing about Christmas trees—the custom did NOT begin in England, but in Germany (hence the Tannenbaum connection). It came to England with the Hanover kings and their wives, who were German. The custom didn’t really take hold until the Victorian age. Which makes it hard to put a Christmas tree in a late Regency romance . . .That’s why I cheated and made my hero’s mother be half-German. I had to have a Christmas tree, whether they were common or not! I made her tree pretty typical for the time, though—candles, glass baubles, nuts, and fruit as decorations.
These days, however, we can all go crazy, the way I do. Do you go all out when decorating your tree(s)?
Here’s a quickie quiz to assess your tree preferences:
- Artificial or real?
- Theme tree, eclectic tree, or both?
- White lights or colored? Twinkling or not twinkling? (Does anybody use those “chasing lights”? Those drive me nuts.)
- How many decorated trees do you have inside?
- How many outside?
- Placed in the window for all to see or kept just for you and the family?
- Decorated by you, you and spouse, you and spouse and kids, or someone else entirely?
- Ornaments piled on or tastefully placed? (Take a wild guess which one I am.)
- Icicles or no icicles?
Whatever your preferences, happy decorating! Now, off to trim yet another tree . . . .
At the tender age of twelve, Sabrina Jeffries decided she wanted to be a romance writer. It took her eighteen more years and a boring stint in graduate school to sell her first book, but now her sexy and humorous Regency-set historicals routinely land on the USA Today and New York Times lists. They’ve also won several awards, from the Booksellers’ Best to the Maggie Award for Excellence.
~Sabrina Jeffries
At the tender age of twelve, Sabrina Jeffries decided she wanted to be a romance writer. It took her eighteen more years and a boring stint in graduate school to sell her first book, but now her sexy and humorous Regency-set historicals routinely land on the USA Today and New York Times lists. They’ve also won several awards, from the Booksellers’ Best to the Maggie Award for Excellence.
Her current series, the School for Heiresses, features the spirited graduates of Mrs. Harris’s School for Young Ladies, unconventional heiresses who prove a match for society’s most irresistible rogues.
Sabrina lives in North Carolina with her husband and son, where she writes full-time.
Sabrina is giving away a hardback copy of her newest release 'Twas the Night After Christmas!!
Open INT
Just fill out that Rafflecopter and answer her question :)
